36 on the Quay

The former fishermen's pub overlooks Chichester harbour, a stolid building that happens to be home to a restaurant with rooms that is full of character, not to mention some quite decidedly remarkable cooking. The rooms are all named after spices (Cardamom is a self-contained cottage), and the high degree of comfort throughout extends to a courtyard for summer evenings, while the dining room looks out over the quayside through expansive bay windows, between which works by local artists are displayed. It all makes a thoroughly sympathetic backdrop for Ramon Farthing's seasonally-changing fixed-price menus. A certain prolixity seems threatened in menus that take some time to describe their wares - an opener might be 'Dashi, a clear and fragrant Japanese-style soup gently simmered with steamed flaked skate wing, broccoli shoots, beech mushrooms and lime' - but the results make perfect sense, demonstrating great focus and intensity and clear culinary logic. Main course could be braised beef shin with caramelised baby onions, thyme-spiked mushrooms and roasted carrots, sauced with red wine, or there may be a profusion of Thai spices in a dish of red mullet with crab and spring onion cannelloni in coconut and lemongrass cream. Themed desserts such as apple or lemon are the irresistible conclusion.